Overdose remedy Narcan could be given to drug users and their families
LIFE-SAVING overdose remedy Narcan could be given to drug users and their families. The State Government is assessing the reform.
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LIFE-SAVING overdose remedy Narcan could be given to drug users and their families with the Ballieu Government yesterday saying it was assessing the groundbreaking reform.
Health Minister David Davis indicated to the Herald Sun he was willing to consider changes to combat a rising number of overdose deaths.
"The Victorian Department of Health will assess very carefully a report from Anex and other studies, including an ACT trial, before considering any broadening of its use here," Mr Davis's spokeswoman Kathryn McFarlane said.
Naloxone - better known by its trade name Narcan - has been used for decades by paramedics and hospitals to safely reverse the effects of heroin and other opiate-based drug overdoses with no known side effects.
Drug harm minimisation agency Anex said programs to train people in the use of naloxone and evaluate its life-saving ability were long overdue, with deaths due to overdoses of pharmaceutical opioids - often referred to as hillbilly heroin - on the rise.
In a paper to be released today to mark International Overdose Awareness Day, which began in Melbourne in 2001, Anex calls for Naloxone to be made available to health care workers and other potential overdose "witnesses" such as users and family members.
"It is estimated that one person per day dies of an opioid overdose, usually involving the injection of heroin," the paper says.
"However, of increasing concern is the number of fatal overdoses occurring because of the growing number of people consuming opioid painkillers.
"This is particularly the case in regional and rural areas where waiting times for ambulances are longer."
Last year the Herald Sun revealed overdoses of opiate-based painkillers, such as codeine, jumped 21 per cent in 2009-10, with 521 overdoses recorded.
Earlier this year the Coroner reported 338 drug deaths in Victoria in 2010, compared with 288 road crash deaths.
The growing abuse of over-the-counter and prescription drugs has also seen more overdose victims hospitalised and extending the time taken to treat them.
Anex chief executive John Ryan said non-medical Victorians, such as users parents, could be trained to safely administer naloxone, similar to the use of epi-pens in cases of anaphylactic shock.
"Mums and dads, as well as drug users could be given naloxone, trained on how to use it so than can try to revive a person while an ambulance is on the way," Mr Ryan said.
The UK and parts of the US already allow non-medical personnel to administer naloxone, while Italians have been able to buy it over-the-counter for many years.
"Although it is non-addictive, safe and an indisputably lifesaving, naloxone is classified as a Schedule 4 drug in Australia which means it can only be administered by trained medical staff or prescribed by a doctor, although this rarely occurs."
Earlier this year the ACT began Australia's first trial program to provide naloxone to and train 200 potential overdose witnesses.
"Victoria should look at making lifesaving Narcan more widely available to reduce deaths. Just this year the White House, the United Nations and the American Medical Association supported it because it helps save lives," Mr Ryan said.
"Fewer families would suffer the loss of overdose death if we followed England and the US and set up Victorian programs to put Narcan into the hands of people who are on hand to rescue people on the spot," Mr Ryan said.